Heads down for NAPLAN

The head of the authority charged with administering NAPLAN, says the lag in getting student literacy and numeracy test results to parents is a problem. Professor Barry McGaw says he hopes plans to put the tests online by 2016 will help address the issue.

But Professor McGaw, who chairs the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA), rejects the annual round of complaints that NAPLAN stresses students excessively, that schools are 'teaching to the test' or that students are being permanently categorised by the process.

"It's not high stakes for children," Professor McGaw told 702 Mornings, adding that such suggestions might have more to do with some teachers transferring their sense of pressure onto students.

Professor McGaw also expressed concern that some parents are taking their children out of NAPLAN, not a substantial trend but one that could, if it continued undermine the testing regime.

Professor McGaw Much hope is being placed in the plan to begin delivering NAPLAN via the internet by 2016.

The Gillard government's minister responsible for NAPLAN, Peter Garrett, urges parents to understand that NAPLAN gives government the snapshot needed to ensure resources are targeted to where they are most needed.

"In fact it's the only way that we can make sure that we can deal with some of the static results or even declining results that we're seeing comparatively in literacy and numeracy," Mr Garrett told 702 Mornings.

Many 702 Mornings listeners supported the NAPLAN process strongly, while others continue to cite cases of schools that screen students based on their NAPLAN results and drill students excessively for the tests.

Others are critical of how students with learning difficulties are incorporated into testing, while further criticism is levelled at schools that are said to try to exclude less competent children that risk dragging overall school performance down.

The National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy, known as NAPLAN, tests years' three, five, seven and nine students in basic skills, comparing them nation-wide and giving schools profiles that feature on the Federal government's MySchools website.